Keep close
by Alis.c.p
Summary: This is a father/son fic contains spanking! El was in the kitchen when she heard sounds coming from the front door...Sequel to the closest thing
1. Chapter 1

El was in the kitchen when she heard sounds coming from the front door. Why was her beautiful husband home early from work? Not that it mattered; it was fantastic to see for a change because with one thing or another, they hadn't spent too much time together lately. Maybe she could manage to make something quick for dinner so they could spend the rest of the night curled up against each other on the couch. With that encouraging thought in mind, she strolled into the living room with the biggest smile on her face. Too bad all hope of a sweet evening with her husband died along with her smile when she saw Peter dragging Neal into the house.

"You'd better stop, Caffrey! Stop struggling! You are going to stay here and that's final! I don´t care how much you cry, kick or yell!"

Peter was holding the kid – one hand wrapped around Neal's upper arm to direct him, the other hand holding a fistful of shirt at the back of Neals' collar to hold him in place. Neal pushed against Peter but no matter how much he tried, he was not going anywhere except wherever the agent was taking him.

_Damn Peter and his damn FBI training!_

It took several minutes to get Neal into the house but Peter accomplished his mission like he always did. El was impressed. It was a half fun, half annoying war between the two men to watch. And it was kind of hot to see too, even thought she would never, ever admit it, seeing her man in full agent mode really turned her on.

Once everybody was inside the house, the three of them stood staring at each other. Peter and Neal where busy catching their breaths, leaving El to do the talking,

"You guys are unreal, what's wrong now?"

Neal directed an angry look in her direction, which shook her a little, and then he looked away while crossing his arms over his chest.

Peter required a few more deep breaths before he could speak again, "Neal. Upstairs. Now!"

The kid sent a dark look to the agent but he obeyed the direction and headed up the stairs to the guest room.

"Honey?" El inquired with a puzzled expression.

"That kid El, that damn kid is going to cost me one early death!" Peter said as he ran a hand down his face, while accepting that it was becoming a habit. He should probably thank Neal for that later!

"Yeah," El said half joking, "If you don´t kill him first."

"I know you are joking but seriously, I'm beginning to think only one of us isgoing to make it through his four years under my supervision." Peter couldn't say for sure which one.

"What happen?" Elizabeth was concerned. In order to help both men she cared deeply for, she needed to know what was going on.

"He…. Damn! I´m an idiot!" The agent ran to the stairs and climbed them two at a time.

"Wait-what!" It was all Elizabeth manages to say before his husband disappeared out of sight. She sighed while paying attention to the noises coming from the secondfloor.

_"Neal!"_

Surely Neal wasn't capable of getting up to mischief in the guest room?

_"Stop right there!"_

Perhaps he was! The kid was going to be in big trouble, El assumed from the tone of Peter's heard the sound of…. struggling? Yes and the sounds of quick movement all over the room. And then…. a whack?

Surely not, it couldn't be? El couldn't be sure. Then she heard the same sound two more times. No mistake this time, it was undoubtedly the sound of one very mad FBI agent's hand connecting with the butt of a young con man.

_Ouch!_ She thought.

Soon after, El heard them coming down. Peter was leading, his face was furious. One red faced Neal was struggling to keep up, like he had little choice with the grip Peter had on his shirt. They passed El and walked to the kitchen where Peter pulled a chair out before the angry man deposited Neal and not in a gentle way either.

"You will not move from there without my permission!"

Neal responded to the order with some serious pouting and by letting his head droop all the way into his shoulders.

Peter turned to his wife who had trailed them to the dining room, "Watch him!"

El raised one eyebrow. Why the hell was Peter talking to her like that? She hadn't done anything!

"I´m-I'm sorry honey," Peter back peddled, "I am just upset with Neal. I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"It´s okay honey. I understand."

"I just need some air, would you please watch him?" El nodded "If he tries to runaway, if he move from that seat, if he blinks too much, if he even breathes too often, you call me, I'll be just outside."

Before heading out, the FBI agent glared at Neal, who was staring at the table in front of him. The kid didn't need watch the agent to know with unquestionable doubt that Peter was sending him a look that said, 'Behave or I will kill you when I get back!'

As soon as they were alone, El made a move to find out what the hell wasgoing on between these two.

"Sweaty? What happen?"

Neal didn't respond. The kid didn't even acknowledge El.

"Honey why is Peter so angry?" she tried again.

Neal continued to stare at the kitchen table.

"Neal what were you doing upstairs that Peter… that Peter… well became so angry?"

Neal's face turned bright red but he continued to maintain his statue like state.

Elizabeth was losingher patience really fast."Neal you don´t want to talk about it?" She waited for a few moments but there was still no response coming from the young man. "Okay if you don´t want to talk to me that´s fine, but would you please lookat me while I talk to you."

Again there was no response.

"Neal Caffrey! Look at me right this instant!"

Neal turned wide blue eyes to Elizabeth. He had never seen her so mad!

_Impressive!_"Good… thank you." El continued in a softer voice. "You know I can't helpyou if you don´t talk to me."

Neal was taken in by Elizabeth's motherly tone. Maybe this was becoming a trend - this whole parental Burke scenario. Pity everyone had failed to inform him! Anyway, Neal kept the thoughts to himself and remained silent.

After several minutes Elizabeth give up "Alright have your way then."

A few minutes later, Peter came back inside the house, calmerthan earlier but still quite angry with Neal.

"Hey honey, do you feel better?"

"Yeah thanks," Peter said without much confidence. "Did he behave?"

"Yeah…mmm…can I see you in the liven room?"

"Sure." He knew pretty well that his wife would be full of questions by now. "Neal, do not move your butt from that chair!"

"Honey, what is going on? Why did you drag Neal into our house?"

"It's because of the case we are working on, El. We found out that the guy we were investigating wants to take revenge of Neal and Mozzi for some job they did a while back that went wrong."

"Is he dangerous?"

"Yes he is honey. Since yesterday, Neal hasn't heard a thing from Mozzi. We suspect that maybe the guy is holding him somewhere and wants to use him as bait to entice Neal out."

"Oh my god!"

"So, I informed Neal he was off the case and..."

"And he didn't take that too well?"

"No he didn't," Peter scoffed. "I sent him to a safe house to protect him but…"

"He ran away?"

"Yes, he ran in order to find Mozzi. As soon as I caught up with him…thank you electronic monitoring anklet…I brought him back here so I could keep an eye on him."

"And he was not okay with that."

"No he was not. But this is for his own safety, so I don't really give a damn if he is okay with this or not."

"And what happen upstairs?"

Peter could sense his angry boiling as he recalled, "I discovered him half wayout of the window!"

_That explained a lot!_ "So you…?"

"Yes…I smacked his behind a few times," Peter responded defensively.

"Okay…" El accepted it better than last time, "but what's up with the talking? Why isn't he saying anything?"

"Ummm... well…" Peter hesitated.

"Honey?"

"He was complaining the whole car ride and I…I'll ask him to be quiet."

"You asked him?" _Surely not!_

"Okay I may have told…I yelled at him to shut the hell up," Peter blurted out rather guiltily.

"And now he is…?"

"Throwing a little tantrum yes."

"And what are you going to do about?" Dare she ask!

"I don't know…I guess the same thing that you do with a kid, ignore it until he grows tired of it?"

"Alright if you think that's the best…. I´ll go out to get us something for take it easy on Neal, he is just worried about his friend, that's all."

"Yeah I know, but he has to trust me and our team. They are going to findMozzi, I guarantee it."

"I believe you hon," El kissed her husband on the top of his head as she headed for the door, "but…please don't kill him while I'm out okay?...Okay?"

Peter looked away, unable to give an honest response.

"Peter!"

The agent sighed deeply before offering a compromise, "I'll try but I can´t promise you anything."

_Oh dear! This was going to be one hell of an interesting night!_

* * *

_A/N thanks to colakirk.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

"Hi Hon," El announced whileentering the house. "I brought dinner… Chinese. " She walked over to Peter who was strategically placed so he could still watch Neal, sitting at the dining room table, bound by an infinite ocean of papers and photos. El leaned down and kissed him.

"Hi Hon," Peter responded without taking away his eyes from the paper he was reading.

She went into the kitchen to place the food on the counter and returned a moment later, a little less than impressed. El stared at her husband with a mixture of concern and well…annoyance. Shehad hoped that once she returnedto the house, Peter and Neal would have resolved their problems. Of course that would have been just too much to ask.

"Peter?" Elizabeth interrogated with some tiredness in her voice.

"Mmm?"The agent pretended not to notice the glare he knew for sure he was receiving.

"Honey!"This time she tried addressing her husband with an angry whisper.

"Yes?" Peter reluctantly replied while meeting her eyes…herbeautiful eyes…her beautifullyconcerned eyes…her beautifully concerned and not so happy eyes.

"Neal is still sitting in the exact same spot he was when I went out," she came closer to Peter before continuing, "and I left this house two and half hours ago!"

"Yeah, I noticed,"Peterpointed out as he placed the papers he was holding down onto the table and directed one accusatory glance in his wife'sdirection. Take-outChinese food shouldn't take that long, he was sure of that, but he didn't blame her, not really, how could he? If he could, he would havecollected the car keys and drivenas far as possible from Neal's bad mood as one tank of fuel would get him, never to return! At least El has the decency to come back home. Credit where credit was due!

"I thought you two could use some time to… you know fix things?" El defended herself while leaning closer and lowering her voice, not wanting Neal to hear them."But honey, really? Couldn't you even…"

"I know what you are about to say El, but I tried talking to him, I swear I did," Peter explained in hushed tonesbut raised his voice so Neal could hear, "He just doesn't want to listen!"

In the kitchen Neal was actually hearing everything that had been said, even the parts he was not supposed to. They weren't asquiet has they thought they were.

"Maybe you should try again," El nodded with her head towards the kitchen.

"But…" Peter pitiful attempt to argue the point were quashed by astern look from Elizabeth. "Alright! I´ll talk to him, just not right now, let me finish this paper work and then have some dinner and after that I´ll try again."

Elizabeth showed her appreciation with a quick nod, "Thank you Peter Burke, I always knew that you were areasonable man." She kissed him lovingly on the top of his head, "I´ll go serve dinner."

"Yeah okay…." Peter sighed, not as convinced as his wife about the 'reasonable man' statement."Just give me five minutes and I'm done."

* * *

El dished up a plate full of food for Neal, laying the plate in front of the young man before serving up one for herself and Peter. The Burkes began to eat their meals without delay, but Neal was another story. He simply stared at his food,he had no intentions of eating a single bite. Elizabeth noticed first so she bumped her knee against Peters. The agent took his attention off his plate and focused on Elizabeth who made a quick move with her eyes from Peter to Neal to Neal's untouched food, then back to Peter who understood immediately.

"Neal, your food is getting cold," the agent stated without fuss before returning his attention back to his own food, hoping that would be enough to make the kid eat something. Unfortunately, a few minutes later, Peter had to face the facts- making Neal eat was not a simple task by any stretch of the imagination.

Peter glared at the kid across the table, "Neal please pick up your fork and start eating you food."

Neal didn't respond. Neal didn't move. Neal didn't give a damn, he could care less what Peter told him to do!

"Come on Neal…What? Now you aren´t going to eat either?" Peter questioned with stern authority, but there was simply no reaction from the younger man. "This is fantastic!" Peter yelled, exasperated. "You don't speak, you don't move,now you don't eat! I wonder when you are going to stop breathing! You going to try that next until you became purple and get what you want!"

Elizabeth shot a look at Peter that said, 'Don't give him any ideas!' So Peter decided to count until…until six billion and beyondtotry and reign his temper again.

"Neal sweetie," it was time for Elizabeth to take part in the fiasco, "If you don't like this, I'll make you something different." She spoke to the kid by way of some kind of peace offering while givingthe top of Neal's thigh a quick pat.

Neal squirmed in his chair, slightly uncountable but did lift his head for a second, showing some signs of life.

_Great! _Elizabeth thought. Her victory was small, but a victory nonetheless. The kid hesitated, but only for a moment, then he sunk his head down once more.

El looked over to Peter, time to swamp again.

"Neal I know you are mad, but I also know that you are hungry. You didn't eat lunch today and I'd be pretty certain that you didn't bother with breakfast either, so please do us all a favor and eat."The agent spoke ever so slowly, like it may just sink in at the decreased speed.

But once again, there was no reply from the kid and once again, Peter lost his cool. "Fine!" He yelled out before restarting his count to six billions in his head again.

When the Burkes were done with their food, Peter stood and picked up the dishes to wash while Elizabeth dried.

"If you at any time get hungry at any time sweetie, you just tell me and I'll fix you something, okay?" El didn't expect a response but she tried anyway and shook her head sadly while following her husband back into the living room, leaving Neal seated at the kitchen table in his own little world of protest.

* * *

Peter paced around the living area while making a call to Diana to check how the investigation was going, lowering his voice as much as he could, trying hard not to been heart by Neal. When he finished the conversation, he joined his wife on the couch.

"How is the investigation going?" Elizabeth whispered in his husband ear as low as she could.

"Right now, not so good," he admitted while whispering also. "They can't find anything that is leading us to Mozzie, but I know we are going to figure this out."

"What are we going to do with Neal?"

"He is going to stay here until this is all over," Peter said firmly.

"That's for sure honey but…just how long do you think you'll be able to keep him in that chair?"

"For how ever long is necessary…I don't really care," he declared confidently. Better one crossNeal in a chair than one dead Neal lying somewhere!

"I'm sorry Peter, but if you keep Neal there for much longer, I may be forced to call child services," she smiled jokingly.

Even though Peter knew his wife was only joking…well part joking at least, he becamesuddenly defensive, "Come on El, I'm not torturing him, I just sat him in a chair like a naughty kid."

"Yeah… but for Neal, sitting in that seat doing nothing is still torture." That was the truth!

"You just saw how he acts; I don't know what to do. What else did you want me to do?"In actuality, Peter he had some things in mind but he doubted El would be too happy if he handcuffed Neal to the bed, then again, probably she wouldn't be too happy either if he locked the kid in the bathroom.

"Talk to him Peter, just talk to him. That's all I am asking."

"Fine," Peter sighed deeply, "I'll do it."

"Thanks Hon," El smiled appreciatively before heading for the second floor, leaving Peter the task of dealing with his troublesome young charge.

* * *

Thirty minutes passed before Peter built up the strength to speak to Neal. Setting aside the files he'd been unable to concentrate on, he walked into the kitchen to go the next round with the younger man.

"Neal," he said while taking a seat in front of the kid, "Really Neal, this whole thing I know is difficult for you and I know Mozzie is your best friend, but I can't just let you go. It 's dangerous and I know you are smart and everything but I just take a chance."

Neal glared at the older man thinking, _Fuck Peter believing he can control everybody! _Of course he kept those thoughts wisely to himself.

"This is the best for you Neal. It is for your safety."

_My safety? I'm a con-man!_

"I won't let you go and get yourself killed and I don't care if you are mad about that or not," Peter stated firmly.

Neal looked away.

"Neal please," Peter tried softly this time. "…Okay, if you don't want to talk to me then you are not moving your butt from that chair either."

Neal grimaced inwardly. He was getting desperate and numb; he'd been sitting in that fucking chair almost for four hours!

"Don't want to talk?... Okay then stay there." Peter stood up and went back to his files. What else he could do if the kid didn't want to talk?

* * *

Two hours later Peter stormed into the kitchen, again! He gripped Neal by the upper arm and dragged him to the couch where he deposited him unceremoniously.

"Lay down" Peter ordered.

Neal lifted wide, frightened eyes up to Peter and swallowed hard. Had he finally pushed him over the edge? Was the agent about to use one of his FBI trained moves to snap his neck or smother him with a pillow? Was the older man about to put an end to this ordeal? Possibly more to the point - Had he himself spent too much time sitting in the chair and was now delusional?

Peter rolls his eyes at his young charge and placed a reassuring hand gently on his head. "It's late Neal. You need some sleep, lay down and rest. It's been a stressful day."

Thinking that it may be suicidal to push Peter any further, Neal complied and stretched out on the couch. The agent covered him with a blanket before heading back to his files. Three minutes later, Peter almost cried with relief when he looked over and saw Neal, one arm and half a leg hanging off the edge of the couch,sleeping soundly, snoring lightly and totally out to it. The agent let out a long, tiresome breath, _Dear God please let me finish this case soon before I end up killing this kid!_

* * *

A/N: Hi I just want to say tanks for all your reviews and positive messages!


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